Kailor: I'm sorry for the big breaks in these last updates. Work and DND campaign prep has taken up much of my time, but hey! Here we are!
Also, I've put up a Bechloe one shot called "You Love This Song" as a sorry for being late, but thank y'all for understanding. Much love to all of you!
A warm arm slips around her and she knows who it is without opening her eyes. Even before she started working in the wilderness, Aubrey had always smelled like a field of wildflowers.
"Bree," she cheers quietly, still in the hazy realm somewhere between asleep and awake.
"Shh. We can be excited that I'm here later." Aubrey's sleepy voice presses into her shoulder as she snuggles close.
Chloe hums, grabbing Aubrey's hand in her own and threading their fingers together. "Mm-kay."
The house smells like bacon and pancakes when she wakes again. Chloe rolls over, stretching lazily. Focusing, she can hear the dull clink that Beca's stove makes when a pan is moved onto the back burner and something is sizzling.
She rubs her eyes, picking up her phone. It's just after nine in the morning. There's a few snapchats from the girls and she opens them as her body wakes up.
Amy's sent her a selfie, captioned only, "Since u probz miss my face". Lilly has sent a couple snaps of the new babies her pet rat, Abraxas, just had. She squeals over their cuteness for a little bit, screenshotting the pictures. Once she finally tears herself away from the adorable babies, there's only snaps left from Aubrey, Stacie, and Beca.
Stacie's first snap is a picture of airport security that says, "WE'RE ON OUR WAY, BITCH!" The second is an incredibly cute picture of Aubrey fast asleep on Stacie's shoulder that Chloe immediately screenshots. She clicks on Stacie's story and finds a silent video of Aubrey's back as they walk through the airport doors, captioned, "Saving this video for the next time BitchellRae and Aub_Posen claim to hate each other". The camera turns and there's Beca, leaning against the side of Chloe's car in the pickup lane. Her head suddenly lifts, as if someone's called her name, and a wide grin breaks across her face. And then she's running right into Aubrey's open arms, hugging her tight enough that Aubrey's feet leave the ground.
Warmth fills Chloe head to toe as the snap ends with the two still wrapped around each other and she quickly sends Stacie a message asking for the video. She knows, of course, that Beca and Aubrey have long forgotten the way they hated each other when Chloe first started bringing Beca around. They just like to pretend they're still enemies. It's their form of friendship and it is very amusing. But Chloe loves seeing them drop that for a moment.
Aubrey has sent a single snapchat and it's a picture of her and Stacie on the plane. Chloe screenshots it too.
Beca has also sent a selfie. It's her in the car, straight-faced and looking incredibly annoyed, while Aubrey waves from the passenger seat and Stacie leans from the backseat to kiss Beca's cheek. It's captioned, "Got the hoes. Coming home."
Chloe screenshots it as well, giggling, and sets it as her new lockscreen. She rolls out of bed, eager to see their actual faces.
She follows the smell of breakfast, but detours once again to the door of the master bedroom to look in. Beca has returned to exactly how she started the day—face down in bed, the covers dropped to her hips, and one leg sticking out. Her arms are shoved up under her pillow. Her jacket is on the floor, but she's still wearing Chloe's hoodie and it's ridden up to expose the small of her back.
This time, however, Stacie is there too, long frame wrapped around Beca's much smaller one and face nuzzled against her shoulder blade. Her hair has gotten lighter and her skin darker in the few months since Chloe's seen her in person, but the rest is a familiar sight. Stacie sleeps pantsless and she's kicked her half of the blanket down to the end of the bed. One bare leg is thrown across Beca's hips and she has a handful of Chloe's hoodie bunched in her fist.
Some things really never change. There's a picture on the wall downstairs of them in this exact same position as toddlers. Chloe had squealed in delight over it for days after Stacie first pointed it out and Beca had pretended to be very grumpy about it. She makes a mental note to get that photo on her phone as she pulls it out and takes a new picture. They'll make a very cute side-by-side for Instagram.
Aubrey is in the kitchen, humming quietly as she flips pancakes. Chloe hurries over to throw her arms around her, snuggling against her back.
"You're up!" Aubrey twists in her hold to hug her tight and then pushes her to arm's length to look at her. "Oh, you look so beautiful! I guess it's true what they say. You're glowing."
Chloe scrunches her nose, pushing back in for another hug. There's always been something about Aubrey's hugs that warms every fiber of her being. And, since college, Chloe has gotten less of these hugs than she would have liked, but now Aubrey's moving home. She'll be there to hug all the time and Chloe bets her child will love being wrapped up in Aubrey's hold as much as she does. It's like fate that she's coming back now. Chloe's whole world may be changing, but this never will.
She leaves Aubrey to finish breakfast and plops down at the island. Like Stacie, Aubrey's hair is a lighter shade of blonde now, bleached by the sun over the summer. The last time Chloe saw them both was back in June, for her birthday. Only a few months, but far too many at the same time. "I've missed you so much, Bree."
"I've missed you too." She smiles softly—that Chloe-only smile. "I can't believe we're here. That this is happening." Her laugh echoes off the walls and it makes Chloe's body hum with happiness to hear it again. "I'm sorry Tom turned out to be a douche, but...I'm happy for you. You've always wanted this."
"I have," Chloe agrees. "Honestly, I'm glad he left. If that's the kind of person he is, I don't want to raise a kid with him." She reaches across the island to grab Aubrey's hands. "I have so many other wonderful people and my kid will too."
"Stop, I'm going to cry in the pancakes." Aubrey clears her throat and frees her hands to flick the tears from her eyes. She turns back to the stove. "I hear you asked Beca to be the other godmother."
Chloe giggles, propping her chin on her hands. "Actually, I said she could be the baby daddy."
Her ponytail swings as she glances up the stairs. "What did she say to that?"
"She nearly choked to death on her tea."
Aubrey snorts.
"But it was sweet," Chloe says as her laughter fades. "She was sweet." There's a particularly beautiful swirl in the dark marble countertop and she traces a finger over it as she thinks again of Beca's reaction. "Remember when I introduced you two and you thought she seemed like a total bitch?"
"I was correct," she says, flipping a pancake very matter-of-factly.
Rolling her eyes, Chloe pushes on. "Well, you weren't the nicest to her either." She ignores Aubrey's disagreeing hum. "I always knew she was a sweetheart, though. I could just tell. You know, when I tried to tell Tom, he didn't even let me get the words out before he was running for the door. But Beca was immediately saying 'we' and offering herself as godmother. I was freaking out and she was so calm and gentle with me. It just, ugh. I just love her."
The pancakes are forgotten as Aubrey spins to look at her, spatula held absurdly like a conductor's baton. There's a growing grin on her face. "Yeah?"
"Yeah! Of course!" Chloe shrugs, automatically grinning back. "I love all of you so much. I'm so lucky to have such amazing friends in my life. My baby is starting off so well." She lays a hand over her belly. There's been no noticeable change in it, but she likes to imagine she can barely feel a bright energy there. Waiting. Growing.
Aubrey drops her spatula into the spoon rest with a heavy sigh. She circles the island to wrap Chloe in a hug. "You're so dumb. I love you."
"What?"
"Also, though, you're such an ass," she adds as she pulls away. "Because now I have to hurry up and have a baby too, so they can grow up together."
Chloe laughs. "You could always just propose to Stacie finally and tell her you want to have a baby immediately."
"Maybe I will."
Torn between gasping and screaming, Chloe just gapes. She slaps her palms against the island. "What?"
Aubrey shushes her, a finger pressed to her own grinning lips. "Well. Not the baby part."
"But you're proposing?" Chloe whispers. "Bree, oh my god! When?"
"Soon. Once we've settled into our new place." Her gaze drops to her hands as they come together, almost shyly. "I was hoping you'd look at rings with me when the time comes."
"Of course I will!"
Chloe lunges forward to throw her arms around Aubrey again. They're both crying and Chloe's certain the world cannot get any lighter than it feels at this moment.
But then there's movement over Aubrey's shoulder. Beca and Stacie shuffle into the room, yawning and blinking in the bright sun coming through the windows. Stacie needs no prompting to saunter over and wrap herself in the hug too. Her lips press against Chloe's temple.
Beca holds back, watching them with a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Her hands are tucked into the pocket of Chloe's hoodie, her hair loose and a little wild from sleep.
Chloe holds out a hand, calling her to join them. Beca's nose crinkles and she shuts one eye, leaning back like she's trying to avoid the hand that's all the way across the room. Chloe flutters her fingers and it works. Beca huffs and allows herself to be pulled by the invisible tether. The back of her warm hand slides against Chloe's, knuckles dragging across her palm to her wrist and forearm until Chloe can grip her sleeve and pull her in. She slips her hand under Beca's hair and lays her fingers at the curve of her neck. Beca's sigh is so soft in Chloe's ear that she knows she's the only one that heard it.
Chloe clutches her friends even closer. Every day just gets better and better.
Stacie and Beca spend most of breakfast dozing off in their pancakes and the rest of it arguing over the bacon. When they finally disappear upstairs to dress for the day, everyone is much more awake and Chloe is practically bouncing with excitement. It's so good to all be back together again.
"Okay, kiss us goodbye, ladies. We're going on our best friend date!" Stacie cheers as she skips back down the stairs to pull Aubrey in for a not so PG-13 kiss. She's changed into tight jeans and a cropped leather jacket, looking more like she's about to walk a runway than go out to hang with a friend.
The best friend date is a tradition that started when Stacie and Aubrey moved away. Whenever they do get time together, the first day is always dedicated to OG best friend time. It's something they all look forward to, even Beca.
Not that she would ever admit it, Chloe thinks, as Beca hops off the last stair behind Stacie with an exaggerated huff. She tugs on her gray beanie. "Why am I being punished again?" she asks, leaning into Chloe's goodbye hug.
Stacie releases Aubrey's lips, leaving her a bit dazed, and says, "Hey now. Keep talking like that and you can forget getting lucky on this date, B."
"Well, if you're not putting out, I'm not going."
Chloe giggles, rubbing Beca's back before letting her go. With a gentle shove, she gets her moving to the garage. "Y'all are ridiculous." Stacie skips over to loop her arm through Beca's.
She must know there's really no point arguing, because Beca just shrugs and slips her hands into her jacket pockets. "What's on the homosexual agenda for you guys today?"
"We're getting lunch in Stockbridge and then going shopping," Chloe says. "What about you guys?"
Stacie squeezes Beca's arm happily. "Lunch at Downtown J's, because I miss their hamburger steaks. Then who knows where the wind will take us!"
"Apart, hopefully."
"Over my dead body, Becs."
"I can arrange that."
"No dead bodies. Be safe, please," Aubrey says, making pointed eye contact with each of them while Beca digs through the key bowl.
"I've only ever been in one accident and it was Stacie's fault," Beca says, extracting her keys and swinging them around her finger.
"It's true," Stacie says, nodding. "I ran into her Minnie Mouse motorcycle with my Barbie jeep."
"I'm still waiting for your insurance to call me about that."
"Keep waiting."
Chloe laughs. "Well, be good, at least."
"Never," they say together just before the garage door shuts behind them. A few moments later, the roar of a motorcycle fills the house and then fades away.
"You know," Aubrey says, hands on her hips, "I think those two have already given us plenty of practice with raising children. Every time they leave the house, I feel like we should microchip them first."
"I remember quite a few nights where you and I were the ones that should have been microchipped, Miss Posen." Two nights in particular stick out in her mind. One where Chloe had convinced Aubrey and Jessica to go ghost hunting with her in Barden's biggest cemetery, Garden of Memories. They'd had to call Beca and Stacie to come and save them an hour later because Jessica caught her jacket on an angel statue and they were all convinced a ghost had tried to eat her.
The other night was when they'd gone to Barden Drag Night, had far too much "jiggle juice", and Aubrey decided she had a bright future as a performer. Beca and Stacie had showed up again to pull them off stage. But only after getting quite a few videos of Aubrey—giant red wig on her head—singing "Believe" by Cher, while Chloe and a wonderful drag queen named Tatiana (who was incredibly amused) waved pom poms in the background.
Aubrey spins on her heel and marches upstairs. "Lies and slander," she calls over her shoulder.
Chloe happily follows her, giggling.